A Letter to the Ubyssey regarding Ignatieff Talk coverage
Dear Ubyssey,
I have to write to register my displeasure at your coverage of the Ignatieff talk, namely how it focuses almost exclusively on the rather embarrassing display by Greenpeace, while ignoring the much more important and interesting discussions which occurred during the hour and a half. Amongst other things, an image captions reads “Jessie Schwarz leads the audience in a loud chant protesting the tar sands”. It should be obvious to anyone who was there, or even anyone who has simply seen a video of the event that “Jessie Schwarz” did not “lead the audience” in anything. Jessie Schwartz lead a small fringe group in a rather pathetic chant which was soon drowned out by the vast majority of attendees who were more interested in hearing Ignatieff’s response to the question asked than witnessing yet another juvenile stunt pulled by one of UBC’s many unrealistic fringe groups.
I attended Ignatieff’s talk with no prior opinions regarding the man, but I left rather impressed at how he responded to tough questions honestly, while making no apologies for the hard facts which must be acknowledged, and yet again disgusted at how a mature, respectful attempt at dialogue can be hijacked by a small group of juveniles with an axe to grind. When will UBC’s fringe groups cease pulling this kind of childish stunt? My guess is not before the Ubyssey ceases giving them legitimacy by providing them with more coverage than their impotent attempts at advocacy deserve.
Sincerely,
Nicholas FitzGerald
Tags: greenpeace, ignatieff, ubc
January 19th, 2010 at 10:38 am
Well said.
January 19th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Also it’s rather sad to see these stunts pulled because of the damage it does to the legitimacy of what are otherwise very socially important messages. I know I felt like cutting down a tree and drowning a baby Otter in crude oil after witnessing the protest at the Ignatieff town hall meeting…AND I LOVE OTTERS! But seriously, I want to support the environmental cause, among others, however the lack of respect that that is shown during their protests and their lack of amenability drives me, and I’m sure others, away. I’m also aware that the militant wing of these groups are just that; a wing, and that they do not make up the whole of the groups. The fact remains, however, that the militant wings are the ones that get the most attention and become and ugly mask above the true face of the movements. These people need to grow up, they aren’t the truth embodied and thus need to learn sit down at the table and listen instead of always trying to set it on fire.
January 19th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Agreed. Good journalism must strive to make the significant interesting, not simply elevate what is interesting (although that is even questionable in this case) to a place of undeserved significance.
January 20th, 2010 at 12:38 am
Thanks for saying this Nick. I guffawed out loud when I read that headline in the Ubyssey. I watched the youtube video prior to reading the article and definitely don’t think it gave a fair assessment of what happened during his talk.